A Wizard Comes to the Stage: ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Begins Previews in London

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University students at the opening night of previews of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” at the Palace Theater in London.CreditTom Jamieson for The New York Times

By The New York Times

June 7, 2016

LONDON — The eighth installment of the Harry Potter series was presented on Tuesday evening at the Palace Theater here. Neither a book nor a film, it was a play, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” But whatever the medium, the Potter saga continued with unabated interest: fans dressed in Hogwarts costumes, curiosity about the fate of long-beloved characters and the allure of magic.

Harry Potter and His 2 Friends Remain True to Themselves

When we last left Harry Potter, in the very last pages of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” he was a middle-aged bureaucrat sending his middle child, Albus Severus, off to Hogwarts for the first time. After the violence and darkness that had marked his younger years in Ms. Rowling’s story, all seemed well.

Now Harry is back — in a play, this time — and all is not well. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which had its first preview in London on Tuesday, begins with the final scene from “Deathly Hallows” and skitters rapidly forward a few years, sketching out Albus’s feelings of alienation both from Hogwarts and from his famous father.

It is jarring and exciting to be seeing characters who seemed to be put to rest, suspended forever in place and time, suddenly reanimated. At the same time, the three main characters remained true to their younger selves. Ron still provides comic relief, Hermione remains cerebral and slightly bossy and Harry tries as hard as he can but doesn’t quite live up to his own expectations.

It is odd to see it all unfold onstage when we are so used to approaching the story through Ms. Rowling’s books — reading them was a rite of passage for so many children (O.K., and adults) — or through the movies. But the audience at the Palace Theater here cannot be more thrilled or more appreciative or more ready to be caught up in the spirit of the undertaking.

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Fans outside the Palace Theater in London on opening night of previews of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”CreditTom Jamieson for The New York Times

For those outside the theater and who wish to remain unburdened by details, spoilers will ensue in the next paragraph.

Some scenes are filled with adolescent angst. At one point what appeared to be a live owl flew across the stage. The producers manage to create some literal stage magic. A wand moves papers across a desk, and books come out of a shelf and speak. SARAH LYALL

In Costume and Out, Potter Fans Flock to Theater

As the line snaked around the Palace Theater, with people waiting for the play to start, a crowd milled outside, with many ticketless people clutching Potter books. On an especially balmy London day, some were in full Hogwarts uniforms, with capes and school colors.

Many seemed to be in their 20s and enduringly loyal to the book series.

“They were the best books I read in my childhood,” Jonathan Snow, 28, of Britain, said. “I just want to be back in that world.”

Ticketholders came from Canada, Italy, Singapore, Brazil, the United States and elsewhere.

Erika Sloop, 25, and Dennis Allen, 27, from Tampa, Fla., who were in line, came to see the play three days after getting married in a Potter-themed wedding. The wedding party picked Hogwarts houses to join. They had tables decorated like Gringotts and the forbidden forest. Seating was arranged by a sorting hat and all the guests were given wands.

They said the wedding date coincided with the performance. “We originally actually planned our honeymoon for Iceland,” Mr. Allen said. But when tickets became available on the Pottermore.com website, they changed plans.

Inside the theater, the set seemed old, ornate and vaguely Hogwartian. The stage had suitcases on it and was surmounted by a large clock. A roar of applause rose when an announcement came that the show was about to start. ROSLYN SULCAS AND CHRISTOPHER D. SHEA

Creators of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Plead for Secrecy

“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” the eagerly anticipated new play that promises a fresh installment of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter saga, will shed its shroud of secrecy on Tuesday evening.

For months, the clock has been ticking down on Ms. Rowling’s Pottermore.com website, counting the weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds until the first performance of “Cursed Child,” which is being presented in two parts at the Palace Theater here. The first in a run of previews begins at 7:30 p.m., ahead of the official opening night on July 30. The first performance of Part 2 is on Thursday; on some days, the two parts can be seen consecutively.

The story line of the play is by Ms. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, who wrote the script, and the creators have sought to impose intense secrecy about the plot and production. On Monday, Ms. Rowling posted a short video on Twitter with the hashtag #keepthesecrets; by Tuesday afternoon it had more than 82,000 views, with many commenters agreeing and others crying out to know what happens.

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A young fan in line to see “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” in London.CreditTom Jamieson for The New York Times

“We simply want everyone who’s bought a ticket to #CursedChild to enjoy the onstage surprises,” Ms. Rowling wrote. That will become more difficult right after opening night, when reviews and the script (already the top-selling book on Amazon.com in Britain) will be published.

The play sold out within hours of the online booking opening, and is full through May 27, 2017, although 40 tickets will be released on the Pottermore site each Friday at 1 p.m. for the following week. Tickets on resale websites are going for as much as $4,800.

It seems unlikely that in the age of social media, all secrets will be kept. The premise, though, is clear by now. The play begins where the final volume of the seven-book saga, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” left off, with an epilogue that showed some of the series’ principal characters — Harry, his friends Ron and Hermione, and Draco Malfoy — seeing their children off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross Station.

The announcement in December that Hermione would be played by a black actress, Noma Dumezweni, caused an online uproar that is still reverberating and included a denunciation by Ms. Rowling of critics of the casting decision.

Tidbits judiciously revealed by Pottermore have stoked intense speculation. “When we altered the font of the title slightly, people were interpreting what it meant,” said Colin Callender, who co-produced the show with Sonia Friedman.

Photographs of cast members in costume provoked theories about which house the young Albus Severus, Harry’s middle son, will belong to (his cloak covered the house colors), and whether he and the young Scorpius Malfoy, son of Harry’s longtime foe, Draco, will be friends or enemies. (The name seems like a clue, no?)

In the final book’s epilogue, Albus is given particular attention, and in a 2007 documentary, Ms. Rowling casually said, “Albus is the one I’m most interested in,” when talking about the way her fictional characters linger in her imagination.

Is he the Cursed Child?

For those who wish they could apparate to the Palace Theater, keep watching this space for clues. For those who don’t want to know, watch for spoiler alerts. ROSLYN SULCAS